MILAN — Speedskater Valerie Maltais is the first Canadian to reach the podium at the Milan Cortina Games, winning a bronze medal in the women’s 3,000 metres.
Maltais, of La Baie, Que., had a time of three minutes 56.93 seconds Saturday, while Italy’s Francesca Lollobrigida took the gold on home soil with an Olympic record time of 3:54.28. Ragne Wiklund of Norway was second in 3:56.54.
“Deep down, I was believing in me. I was believing I had something a little more,” said the 35-year-old Maltais, who picked up her first individual Olympic medal. She was part of Canada’s championship pursuit team at the 2022 Beijing Games.
“After 2022, I went into this phase where I told myself I would keep going only if I felt I could win an individual medal,” Maltais said. “I gave myself two years to really commit, to train hard and focus on the 3,000 metres. Two years ago, I think I had one of my best individual seasons.
“After that, I had a discussion with my husband and said, ‘Give me two more years.’ I felt I had it in me. I did not want to come to these Games just to participate. I wanted to show up at the next Olympics as a contender for medals.”
Ottawa’s Isabelle Weidemann finished fifth with a time of 3:59.24. Laura Hall of Salmon Arm, B.C., finished 13th out of 20 skaters with a time of 4:06.13 in her Olympic debut.
Elsewhere on Day 1 of the Milan Cortina Olympics, Canada’s women’s hockey team is scheduled to open its gold-medal defence against Switzerland, after its original opener against Finland was postponed.
Switzerland’s team was isolating in Milan on Friday after one player was diagnosed with norovirus, the same stomach illness that forced the Finland postponement.
However, Switzerland announced it was prepared to play Canada despite that illness. The team’s chief medical officer, Hanspeter Betschart, said in a statement that there were no concerns about the game taking place, provided no further players show symptoms.
The team did not reveal which player was affected.
In alpine, Toronto’s James (Jack) Crawford finished ninth to lead the Canadians in the men’s downhill at the Stelvio Ski Centre in Bormio, where Switzerland’s Franjo von Allmen won gold as Switzerland and Italy swept the top five.
Cameron Alexander of North Vancouver placed 14th, while Jeffrey Read of Canmore, Alta., finished 25th, and Brodie Seger of North Vancouver was 28th in the 36-skier field.
Crawford said the result was a missed opportunity after feeling his skiing was strong enough to challenge for a medal.
“I’ve been struggling a little bit to find form and confidence in my skiing. And today I thought I finally brought that,” said Crawford, who won bronze in the combined event four years ago at the Beijing Olympics. “I definitely brought a level that could have won the race today. I just made a few mistakes here and there that unfortunately cost me that podium.”
Canada’s mixed doubles curling team of Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant dropped a 7-5 decision to Great Britain. Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat jumped out to a 3-0 lead and never trailed in the round-robin victory.
Later in the day, Gallant and Peterman extended their losing streak to three games in the evening when they dropped an 8-6 decision to Estonia’s Marie Kaldvee and Harri Lill. Gallant and Peterman sit tied for fifth at 3-3 with only four of the 10 teams making the playoff cut.
Calgary’s Abigail Strate finished 11th in the women’s ski jumping normal hill event, having entered as a medal contender.
Strate’s 240.4 total points was 26.9 behind gold medallist Anna Odine Strom of Norway. The 24-year-old Strate was sixth in the World Cup standings coming into the Games. She finished 23rd in the event at the 2022 Olympics but won bronze in the mixed team event.
Meanwhile, two-time Olympic medal-winning snowboarder Meryeta O’Dine has had to pull out of the Milan Cortina snowboard cross competition due to injury. The Canadian Olympic Committee says O’Dine fell during a training session, and an X-ray confirmed she had fractured her ankle.
The Canadian Press
